Archives

Kim LeDuff
The University of West Florida has hired Dr. Kim LeDuff as the university’s new Chief Diversity Officer. As Associate Vice Provost for Equity, Diversity and International Affairs, LeDuff will be responsible for promoting and fostering a climate of diversity and inclusive excellence throughout all aspects of the University community.

Jim Messer
The city attorney of the city of Pensacola scored another court victory when Judge Terry Terrell dismissed the lawsuit by former Councilwoman Maren DeWeese on the mayor’s 2012 budget veto. Messer and former Chief of Staff John Asmar crafted the veto language that was strong enough to withstand DeWeese’s legal challenge.

Escambia County Area Transit
For the first half of 2013, the ridership numbers for public transit in Escambia County are up 3.5 percent over the same period for 2012. From January to June of 2013, ECAT gave 739,646 rides, an increase of nearly 25,000 when compared to the previous year. Contributing to the increase was June 20 “Dump the Pump” ridership. ECAT, along with more than 100 other transit systems and agencies nationwide, encouraged everyone to try transit for a day. ECAT reported 4,692 rides on this single day—an increase of 10.8 percent when compared to the event in 2012.

LOSERS

Rick Scott
Gov. Rick Scott is offering Florida teachers $250 debit cards to buy school supplies. The problem is the teachers won’t get the cards until a month after the school year has officially begun. The timing is so off that only seven of the state’s 67 school districts have enrolled in the program, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Upwords
This is the cheesy name for Mayor Ashton Hayward’s multimedia newsletter. While we laud his attempt to reach out from his seventh floor man cave, there has to be a better name for this. It sounds too much like “Up Yours.”

Turds
Jokes about turds never go over well, although the downtown Rotary Club laughed loudly when Sheriff David Morgan opened his speech with a joke about swallowing one. The daily newspaper wasn’t amused. Turds, whether swallowed or chewed, never are appropriate dinner conversation. Fart jokes always work much better.

City Bureaucracy
As this week’s cover story on food trucks proves, there are no simple, direct answers coming out of Pensacola City Hall. Since 2006, nearly every mayor and city council member has run on platforms promising less red tape and making the city more business friendly. We aren’t seeing it.